The Idea Of Trying

A bit of a reflective post today, not as many facts and a lot more feelings. I’m about a year into my journey of learning more about the environment and trying to do as much as I can to be sustainable in all aspects of my life, and yet I still sometimes feel helpless. So today, I wanted to talk about how important the word ‘try’ is in sustainability, both individually and as a whole. There are too sides to this – it’s important to accept that you can only do what you are capable of, and to not get bogged down in the feeling of not doing enough. However, it is also important to see that on a larger scale, ‘trying’ is not enough to solve the climate crisis.

Sometimes, I’m buying food and I realise that if I want to make the pasta bake that I have planned to make, then I will need some more pasta. This means that I will have to buy some in plastic packaging, because that is my only option other than not having that dinner at all. After this, I’d go home and beat myself up for running out of pasta from a zero waste shop, or not having the energy to think of a new recipe that uses things I already have. This leaves me feeling helpless, and that I can’t make a change. But recently I’ve tried to find a new mindset, where I appreciate my efforts and realise that I can’t be 100% sustainable 100% of the time. I am a human being, with very human flaws and feelings. This is really important, because the idea of failure can put people off reducing their waste if they have an all or nothing attitude, and we don’t need a small group of people doing zero waste perfectly, we need lots of people to do it imperfectly – just by trying. So, it’s important to encourage people to ‘try’, even a little bit.

But, if we want to get to net zero by 2050, ‘trying’ simply isn’t enough. If we somehow manage to achieve net zero, we will still only have a 50:50 chance of avoiding 1.5 degrees of warming. That is a hideous fact, that no one seems to be mentioning. This 50:50 scenario is the possible outcome when we do everything we can – we don’t ‘try’, we DO. So imagine what will happen if we continue to ‘try’ – by reducing instead of eradicating, by negotiating instead of demanding. Of course reducing is good, but there comes a point when this isn’t good enough. Individually, we can only do what is within our means, mentally, physically, financially etc. But as a whole planet, we have to do more than ‘try’, we must DO.

So you see, the word ‘try’ is key to climate change. Encouraging people to ‘try’ their best by buying things without single-use plastic, going meatless one more day a week or getting the bus instead of driving, is all very important, and it’s crucial that we do not weigh people down by expecting too much. However, we must expect more from our governments, businesses and world leaders, because they are not trying hard enough. So, next time you feel a bit rubbish because you forgot your reusable bag, or you see a politician making excuses, remember this word ‘try’ – it is extremely powerful.